Giovanni's Room American Dream

The novel Giovanni’s Room written by James Baldwin in 1956, is a compelling novel about the life of a young American man named David, who flees the United States and goes to Paris to try and find his “true self.” In Paris, he has a girlfriend named Hella, who he proposes to, but before she gives him a definite answer she travels to Spain. While Hella is traveling in Spain, David has a romantic relationship with an Italian bartender named Giovanni and eventually David moves into his room. Giovanni is an Italian immigrant who lives in Paris and works for Guillaume, who is a good friend of David’s. When David and Giovanni’s relationship intensifies, Guillaume fires Giovanni out of jealously. Then Hella returns from Spain and David abandons Giovanni,

which sequentially leads to Giovanni’s downfall. In the end, Giovanni tries to get his job back at the bar, which David believes leads to an altercation between Giovanni and Guillaume which results in the strangulation of Guillaume. Ultimately, Giovanni ends up getting the guillotined for murdering Guillaume, which could have been prevented if David had not neglected him. Despite David’s genuine feelings for Giovanni, internally he feels ashamed and is terrified of admitting that he is gay, which leads to him becoming confused about his identity and he becomes a selfish individual. The setting of Giovanni’s room, the symbolism of darkness in contrast with the American Dream further prove David’s intentions and desires towards Giovanni.
The symbolism of the American Dream represents masculinity in David’s life.

In the 1950s, the American Dream was the idea that a husband and wife lived in a house in the suburbs, had a few children and the husband would work all day and the wife would be a stay at home mom, spending her days taking care of the children. In Giovanni’s room, David wants a relationship that fulfils the American Dream. Even though, David is in a relationship with Giovanni, that does not stop him from imagining what life could be like if he were to be in a heterosexual relationship. For example, in the passage David reveals his gratification when he behaves like a “housewife.” He admits, “I invented in myself a kind of pleasure in playing the housewife after Giovanni had gone to work” (Baldwin 88). Furthermore, David describes how he acts like a housewife when he admits, “I threw out the paper, the bottles, the fantastic accumulation of trash; I examined the contents of the innumerable boxes and suitcases and disposed of them” (Baldwin 88). David takes on the role of being a stereotypical housewife and when he realizes that could not be possible he goes on to state, “But I am not a housewife-men can never be housewives” (Baldwin 88). This realization makes David feel like he has failed at being a man. Throughout the novel, David tries to prove his masculinity by having romantic relationships with women. He does this because being with women provides him with an escape from his own reality and it

proves that he is a “straight man”. The American Dream is something David longed for in his life because it represents masculinity.
In addition to the American Dream, the symbol of darkness is also represented in Giovanni’s Room. Darkness has a negative connotation, and when David describes Giovanni love for him, he says, “... And told me in many ways as he could find how wonderful it was to have me there, how I stood, with my love and ingenuity, between him and the dark” (Baldwin 88). “Between him and the dark” invokes imagery of a negative space, and creates a type of void between the two. The darkness that Giovanni is referring to is evil and fear, which could be because of his past. For example, Giovanni had a wife when he was living in Italy and they had a child together, but the baby was a stillborn. This destroyed Giovanni he admits, “It was the day of my death-I wish it had been the day of my death” (Baldwin 139.) The loss of Giovanni’s child brought him into a dark place, a place of fear, but when David is with him, he makes him feel whole again. Overall, Giovanni feels that David saved him from his dark past by making him feel safe and loving him unconditionally.
Another use of symbolism is the setting, which describes David and Giovanni’s chaotic relationship.

For example, the passage takes place in Giovanni’s room, which is a small, crowded room. When David describes the room, he describes it as messy and with trash everywhere. Sensory image is used to amplify how messy Giovanni’s room is. David says, “The table was loaded with yellowing newspapers and empty bottles and it held a single brown and wrinkled potato in which even the sprouting eyes were rotten” (Baldwin 87). David later admits, “I examined the contents of the innumerable boxes and suitcases and disposed of them” (Baldwin 88). Sight imagery is described with the yellowing newspapers, empty bottles, boxes and suitcases which emphasize how disorganized Giovanni’s room was. The description of Giovanni’s room foreshadows how messy David’s and Giovanni’s relationship is. David admits, “Each day he invited me to witness how he changed, how love had changed him, how he worked and sang and cherished me. I was in terrible confusion.” David does not know how to feel about Giovanni, his thoughts and emotions about him are all over the place like the newspapers, suitcases and empty bottles in the room, but at the same time he likes being in Giovanni’s room because it allows him to feel safe and makes him feel appreciated. Giovanni’s appreciation for David is shown when David reveals how Giovanni is grateful when David is in his company, he says, “…Giovanni smiled his humble,

grateful smile and told me in many ways has he could find how wonderful it was to have me there” (Baldwin 88). The repetition of Giovanni’s smile signifies how important that is to David. David notices how Giovanni appreciates his presence and even though he will not come to terms with his sexuality, he knows deep down inside that he feels the same way. The chaotic relationship of Giovanni and David is symbolized by the setting of Giovanni’s room.
The feelings that David has when he is with Giovanni leads to him having a man vs. self-conflict. David knows that he is happy with Giovanni, but he does know how to cope with those emotions. He admits, “I was in terrible confusion. Stop fighting. Stop fighting it. Stop fighting it. Or I thought, but I am happy. And he loves me” (Baldwin 88). The repetition of “Stop fighting it” emphasizes how conflicted David is with his emotions. David is having an internal conflict with himself and reflects that he should stop pretending like his feelings are not real and that he should act on his emotions and be happy with Giovanni, but that tends to be something that is difficult for him to do. This was not the first instance that this occurs in the novel, for example, when David was in his teens, he had his first sexual encounter with another boy named Joey and he was terrified of the feelings he had. He admits, “I was afraid. I could have cried, cried for shame and terror, cried for not understanding how this could have happened to me, how this could have happened in me” (Baldwin 9). The repetition of “cried” and “how this” further proves the frustration and confusion that David experienced. Furthermore, the tone shifts from a feeling of being scared to a feeling of embarrassment. In addition to the tone, the style of writing and the punctuation, emphasizes the mood and the terror that David feels. For example, the use of commas builds suspense and the italicized word “in” draws attention to how David feels. Soon after David abandons Joey and makes up a story about some girl that he had been supposedly seeing. David avoids the commitment of being Joey’s friend because he does not want to act on his true feelings again, which is something he does towards Giovanni as well. David’s internal conflicts lead to a much greater conflict of him not being able to admit that he is gay.
David’s motivations indicate that he is a selfish person. Throughout the novel, David shows that he is a selfish person even admitting it when he says, “…because the motives which lead me to Giovanni’s room, were so mixed, had so little to do with his hopes and desires, and were so deeply a part of my own desperation” (Baldwin 88). The point of view of David shows how self-centered he is, as well as the tone. For example, “so deeply a part of my own desperation” proves that David only cares about his own needs and “had so little to do with his hopes and desires” develops an arrogant tone. David admits that he only moved into Giovanni’s room to fulfill his own needs. In this sense, David uses Giovanni has a type of distraction and does not take into consideration how Giovanni feels about him, proving him to be selfish. David constantly has a desire for sex and does not care if its Giovanni or somebody else. He admits to that desire by saying “…dreamed of the touch of hands, of Giovanni’s hands, or anybody’s hands, hands which would have the power to crush me and make me whole again” (Baldwin 88). In this regard, David describes how the way Giovanni or anyone touched him made him feel ashamed, but at the same time made him feel complete. This proves David to be selfish because he does not care who he is in a relationship with as long as he is satisfied. Another example of David’s selfishness is his admission, “Sometimes, when he was not near me, I thought, I will never let him touch me again. Then when he touched me, I thought it doesn’t matter it’s only the body it will be over soon” (Baldwin 88). The repetition of “I thought” focuses the attention on how David feels. David realizes that the thought of sleeping with Giovanni disgusts him, but he does not care because his desires are met. Overall, the motivations that David has in particular to Giovanni, prove him to be selfish.
The setting of the passage symbolizes David and Giovanni’s chaotic relationship. For example, the passage takes place in Giovanni’s room, which is a small, condensed room. When David describes the room, he describes it as messy and with trash everywhere. Sensory image is used to amplify how messy Giovanni’s room is, David says, “The table was loaded with yellowing newspapers and empty bottles and it held a single brown and wrinkled potato in which even the sprouting eyes were rotten” (Baldwin 87). This shows how the Giovanni’s room was a complete and utter mess and David later admits, “I examined the contents of the innumerable boxes and suitcases and disposed of them” (Baldwin 88). The description of Giovanni’s room foreshadows how messy David’s and Giovanni’s relationship is. For instance, David does not know how to feel about Giovanni, his thoughts and emotions about him are all over the place, but at the same time he likes being in Giovanni’s room because it allows him to feel safe and makes him feel appreciated. Giovanni’s appreciation for David is shown when David reveals how Giovanni was grateful when David was in his company, he says, “…Giovanni smiled his humble, grateful smile and told me in many ways has he could find how wonderful it was to have me there…” (Baldwin 88). David notices how Giovanni appreciates his presence and even though he will not come to terms with his sexuality, he knows deep down inside that he feels the same way. The chaotic relationship of Giovanni and David is symbolized by the setting of Giovanni’s room.
In the novel Giovanni’s Room, written by James Baldwin, the main character David has a chaotic relationship with his romantic partner Giovanni. David is a selfish individual who is confused with his sexual identity because internally he feels ashamed and is terrified of admitting that he is gay. The representation of the American Dream, Giovanni’s disorganized room and the symbolism of darkness prove to have an influence over David and Giovanni’s relationship.